Martin Pensa

Martin Pensa was nominated for an Academy Award® for Dallas Buyers Club with director and fellow editor Jean-Marc Vallée. He next collaborated with Vallée on the Fox Searchlight film Wild, which starred and was produced by Reese Witherspoon.

Pensa's collaboration with Vallée started on the filmmaker's acclaimed Café de Flore, as first assistant editor. On the same movie, Pensa was part of the visual effects team at Fake Studio, with whom he shared a Genie Award, Canada's Academy Award® equivalent, for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. Pensa and Vallée have also collaborated on commercials.

Drawn to visual arts and music from an early age, Pensa found that film spoke to all of his interests. He began his career as a child actor in Montréal, and dubbed into French the performances of such child actors as Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood for their films' Canadian releases.

In 2002, Pensa began formal studies at the Los Angeles Film School. There, he wrote and directed short films; was the cinematographer on others' works; and was the editor and sound editor on additional ones. Pensa then returned to Montréal and worked as a director, editor and visual effects artist on short films, music videos and commercials. In 2007, he became an assistant editor at Technicolor and then worked at other post-production studios until becoming a full-time freelance film editor in 2011.

Universal Pictures